Rental Property Maintenance
In maintaining a Rental Apartment Property, there is often some confusion caused as to your responsibilities and the responsibilities of the Apartment Administrator and his Maintenance Staff especially if you have not read the Rental Property Contract properly. Generally, these independent responsibilities are clearly defined in the relevant agreements.
The rule of thumb to note in these matters is that the Apartment Administrator and his maintenance men are held responsible for looking after the public areas and attending to major repairs while the renter should attend to only repairs of a light nature arising internally within the apartment.
Responsibilities of the Renter
The maintenance work applicable to a renter is mainly the task of keeping the inside and the immediate surrounding area in a state of cleanliness. It does not include any painting work or repairs to any appliances inside the apartment or any repairs of a structural nature to the interior or exterior of the apartment.
Cleaning a blocked toilet as well as removing a fused bulb and fixing a new one are minor repairs that come under the responsibilities of the renter. However, it is further subject to seeking the help of the maintenance team in the event of the renter is unable to attend to the task himself such as replacing a light bulb located at a high place, which he is unable to reach without the aid of some equipment like a ladder.
A Rental Apartments Complex is a hive of active community life and the renters owe common courtesies and responsibilities to one another for the proper maintenance of the infrastructure and other public utilities at an optimum level free of any sabotage, damage, malfunction and inconveniences caused to the community as a result of deliberate, accidental, or negligent acts of commission or omissions by any member of the community or their agents.
These offences include clogging the drainage or the sewerage system, throwing litter on the road network, letting dogs and pets out without a lead under the control of the renter, obstruction of the Complex Maintenance Team from performing their duties and vandalism for which you are liable to be fined or penalized as provided in the rental contracts.
Responsibilities of the Leasing Administrator
The Apartment Administrator and his maintenance team are assigned the responsibility for major items of maintenance work such as all external repairs and maintenance of buildings, fixing malfunctioning appliances including supply of hot water and heat to the apartments, and attending to all plumbing problems such as leaking pipes and maintaining public areas in good order by clipping threatening branches and trees and having wild plants weeded out and the grass mowed for an attractive finish.
Additionally, they are also supposed to help any renters with their appliance, equipment and fixtures where the renter is experiencing difficulties in attending to them independently.
When the Apartment Administrator Fails to Take Action
It is the duty of the Apartment Administrator and his Team to attend promptly to any complaints received from the Renters. Chief among these complaints would be lack of heating and hot water supplies to the apartment, which are in the highly urgent and essential category. Similarly, there could be leaks in the building’s insulation system due to windows, doors etc. being not properly sealed that results in non-retention of heating applied. It could become a very severe problem especially during the cold seasons.
If these complaints are not promptly attended to due to the apathy or negligence of the maintenance men, it poses a serious problem whereby the renter is thrown into a hazardous situation. In such a scenario, the renter can seek the advice of the Housing Department as to the course of further action to be taken.
In either case of the Department ruling that in terms of the Leasing Agreement, the alleged inaction does not come under the responsibilites of the Apartment Administrator; or that it is a gross violation of the provisions of the leasing agreement, it is only the Department Investigating Officer who can advise you of what further action could be taken to seek redress where the administrator is at fault or what alternative solutions are there for you, in cases where certain duties do not come under the purview of the administrator.